Friday, April 4, 2014

The Gay Thing: Mississippi Governor Signs "Turn Away the Gay" Bill into Law

By and large, gay rights news over the last few years has been extremely good. We've got public sentiment on the rise, and the wind at our backs. And so, the anti-gay contingent had to shift gears, and come up with a new way to be a thorn in gay peoples' sides: "religious freedom."

The argument is a bit odd. Suddenly--and this is fairly new, as far as I know--there is some sort of religious objection to selling products and services to "unrepentant sinners." Translation: gay people (because these folks are not screening their other customers for random sin violations). Where in the Bible it says "thou shalt not festoon a party with thine goods, for men who lay with men as they would a woman," but they're saying it suddenly is in there. Or something.

But it's tremendously short sighted. Just wait until they realize that they're not the only religion in Mississippi. Wait until they're on the receiving end of a legal carve-out for a Muslim business. Or some newly made-up religion made for the express purpose of dodging a law. But most of all? Wait until the lawsuits start rolling in. The best thing to say about this is: it's Mississippi. It's very easy to avoid.

[Excerpt]Mississippi Governor Signs Anti-Gay BillMississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill Thursday that supporters say will assure unfettered practice of religion without government interference but that opponents worry could lead to state-sanctioned discrimination against gays and lesbians.
The bill, called the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act, will become law July 1. It also will add "In God We Trust" to the state seal.
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